Politics

11:45 am

Tue April 9, 2013

State House Democrats’ budget demands higher school funding, Medicaid expansion

LANSING, MI (MPRN)-- State House Democrats say they want to spend an additional half-a-billion dollars on public education and cut taxes for middle-class families. They announced a set of budget priorities Monday that also include expanding Medicaid. We have more from Michigan Public Radio’s Jake Neher:

Lawmakers are in the middle of discussions about the next state budget.

Rashida Tlaib is the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. She says the governor’s budget continues a trend of Republican policies that hurt the state’s middle-class.

The Democrats’ plan calls for a billion-and-a-half dollars in new spending on education, tax cuts for middle-class residents and seniors, and small business investments. They say they would pay for that partly by eliminating government waste and cutting corporate tax breaks.